Page 5 of Flaunt
“Hey, Banks,” she says.
I stop in my tracks but don’t turn around. Not making eye contact helps not to get roped into stuff. “Yeah?”
“Can you do me a teeny, tiny little favor? Pretty please?” she asks.
“Doyoua favor, or whoever is on the phone a favor?”
“It would technically be doing me a favor either way.”
Fuck. “So it’s not for you.”
It’s forher.
My chin tips to the ceiling. A rough exhale drains from my body in the most dramatic fashion I can muster because I know who this is for … and I definitely don’t want to do it.
She sighs. “Banks, please.”
I turn around slowly as if it’s killing me—because it kind of is—and narrow my eyes.
“She’s in a bind,” she says, frowning as if that’s going to help.
Which it will, but I’m going to hold strong until it kills me.
“Is that …Saraon the phone?” I ask, curiously.
“Yes.”
“Then no,” I say, smiling and pivoting on my heel to leave.
“Banks!”
“What?” I groan and face her again. “Call someone else. Whatever it is, call someone else to help her. I’ll even pay for it. It’ll be cheaper than the therapy I’ll have to endure after seeing her.”
“She needs help.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Oh,I know that. I rode with her all the way to Orlando and back to pick upsomeone’sshit when they moved in with Maddox.”
She sighs.
I sigh back at her.
We watch one another. Neither of us says a word.But Sara? Sara sayslotsof words, many of which can be heard through the phone dangling in Ashley’s hand from across the room.
If Sara had called and asked for my help, I wouldn’t answer. The woman is hell on wheels. She’s headstrong and thinks she knowseverything. Her aversion to physical labor is astounding.
If I’m water, she’s oil—oil that hasn’t been changed in a hundred-thousand miles. And I’m basically holy water, so it’s a no-go.
But it’s notSarawho’s asking for my help. It’sAshley. And Ashley is family.
Oh, fuck my life.
I blow out a long, hasty breath.
“I’ll let you come over for dinner tomorrow, too,” Ashley says, luring me in with her fluttery lashes.
Still, I hold strong and think it through.
Even if I put up an argument and do my best to resist her pleas for help, I’ll give in. Arguing will only delay the inevitable. At worst, Ashley will call Maddox, and he’ll call me, asking me to go. And I can’t say no to Maddox because he never says no to me.
